Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Junni
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Young Rato and Tora could do nothing but cling to each other tightly. They believed that if they cried, the monster would hear and come eat them.
But then came a rustling sound, and something poked its head out from beyond the bushes. Though her life had been short so far, to Tora, “she” was the most beautiful being she had ever seen.
The twins stared at the woman in a daze. The woman, too, gazed for a while at the twins trembling amid the thicket before her first question was this.
“Are you twins?”
They didn’t know back then what the ancient Satadian word “siji” meant, but it must have been instinct. Rato and Tora understood it referred to them being twins and nodded.
The woman stared at them intently.
“Ota’s children, right?”
Tora and Rato were shocked that this infamous woman of the forest knew their mother.
“You know Mama...?”
The woman nodded.
In truth, she knew everyone in the tribe. Not just the tribe members, but their mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, and even their ancestors.
She knew Tora and Rato were Ota’s children, Ota was Sinani’s daughter, and Sinani was Tai’s youngest daughter. She had always watched them from afar.
“I’ll take you home.”
“No.”
Tora and Rato spoke reflexively.
“Why?”
“Mama doesn’t want us back. We’re...”
Tora’s eyes welled up with tears.
“Twins.”
Rato gripped his twin’s hand tightly, trying to act composed. The two children were deathly pale, as if they might faint at any moment. They hadn’t eaten anything all day, so it was only natural.
The tribe on this island viewed twins as ill omens.
The woman was well aware that twins were ostracized in the tribe. And these twins were half-bloods from an outsider, to boot.
Their mother, Ota, had fallen in love with an outsider who washed ashore on the island—a man with wondrous golden hair and blue eyes—and spent one night with him. Enraged by this, Ota’s father had slain the outsider with a single stroke.
Mixed blood was common in the tribe now, but back then, visitors were rare on the island, so hybrids were another target for rejection.
Twins, and hybrids with outsider blood to boot.
Tribe members would click their tongues just at the sight of Tora and Rato passing by. It was clear the two children suffered emotional abuse within the tribe.
Even if they were forcibly returned, they might face something even worse.
In fact, the woman had been watching ever since the tribe member who brought the twins in Ota’s stead abandoned them in the forest.
For over a hundred years since the typhoon had awakened her from slumber in the mountain cave, she had been alone for far too long.
The woman reached out a hand and asked,
“Want to come with me?”
The woman whom everyone pointed at as a monster took the young twins’ hands and led them into the forest where she lived. From that day on, that place became the young twins’ home.
In the forest kingdom where even beasts dared not trespass, the twins grew up strong and healthy. Child-rearing was a first for the woman too, but having wandered from village to village and seen so much, she proved surprisingly adept at it.
And before long, the twins had become young men with broad shoulders, sturdy legs, and handsome faces.
“Nika was the daughter of a warrior.”
Tora said.
“She was curious from a young age. Like Mati back then, we loved sneaking peeks at the tribe. We even knew everyone’s names. Nika... Nika was truly beautiful. Second to Mati. But back then, she seemed even prettier than Mati. Mati would be hurt if she heard that, huh?”
Tora shook his head.
“I don’t even know what I’m saying. I must not be in my right mind.”
“Keep talking.”
Zain said it deliberately to hold onto Tora’s consciousness.
Tora swallowed.
“Nika had heard the rumors about us too. The monster woman living in the forest and the twin demons guarding her side. Nika eventually came looking for us in the forest.”
***
“Nika.”
Tora murmured, peering from beyond the grass.
“Why’d she come all the way here?”
Rato grumbled discontentedly from beside him.
Tribe members never entered this forest. They believed some ominous presence lurked within. So Gamal never left the forest at all, and the twins hadn’t met tribe folk in ages.
Ignorance of the other bred fear, and the tribe dreaded the ageless, deathless woman of the forest and her twins to an extreme degree.
At least the twins had been human when abandoned here, just like any other—but the mythic air that swirled through this forest had thrust them into the realm of monsters as well.
Yet here was Nika in the forest. Alone, at that. She was clearly terrified, but she pressed on deeper with a forced composure.
Watching Nika, Tora murmured,
“She’s gotten even prettier.”
Rato smacked his twin’s head from the side.
“You see Mati every day and still call her pretty?”
Tora turned to Rato with a displeased look.
“Mati’s Mati. And who’s prettier than Mati?”
With that, Tora wrapped his arm around Rato’s neck and wheedled.
“Be honest. Don’t pretend otherwise. Don’t you think she’s kinda cute?”
“Let go.”
Rato tried to shake him off in annoyance, but since their strength was evenly matched, they tussled about. Their playful scuffle must have reached Nika’s ears.
Nika whipped around in fright and shouted in a voice trembling with fear yet trying not to show it.
“Who’s there? Who is it?”
Tora and Rato froze.
“We’ll get caught. Let’s go.”
They moved off quietly.
With no answer, Nika must have thought she’d misheard; she gulped and started walking again. Whatever had brought her to the forest, she showed no sign of giving up on venturing deeper.
Tora and Rato, who knew the forest like the back of their hands, followed her while staying hidden.
But Tora was noticing something else.
“Her breasts are big.”
Rato, ahead of him, turned and scoffed.
“Virgin vibes.”
“Like you’re not.”
They lived so isolated in the forest that they rarely even encountered women.
Rato shrugged.
“At least I don’t show it.”
“Wow, cool.”
Tora said in a perfectly flat tone. Then, as if realizing something, he looked at Rato.
“But why’ve you been so grumpy since earlier? What’s bothering you?”
“I’m just wondering why she suddenly came to the forest.”
Tora felt the same, but he was even more curious what this frail-armed girl could possibly do.
Just then, they saw Nika heading toward the cliff. The foliage was so dense she probably couldn’t even see it was a drop-off.
“That way...”
Tora immediately tossed a fallen branch elsewhere to make a noise. Nika halted and spun around.
“Who... is it?”
Fortunately, Nika stopped before the cliff, but she’d been right on the edge. The rain from yesterday had eroded the soil, causing a collapse.
Nika screamed and fell backward.
Tora dashed out and grabbed her arm. Nika stared at him with eyes wide as saucers.
Snap.
But even the branch Tora held snapped, and they began to slide.
Tora was startled too. Yet knowing the terrain well and possessing fine physical prowess, he twisted his body to cushion Nika with his own while grabbing a sturdier branch to halt their fall.
Nika panted irregularly from the shock.
“You okay?”
Rato poked his head out from above.
Seeing the identical face appear, Nika looked back and forth between them in astonishment.
Rato grabbed a vine and climbed down, extending a hand. Tora took it and climbed up, pulling Nika up first.
Once on solid ground, Nika looked at them.
“You two...”
Rato said to Tora,
“Let’s go.”
Meeting tribe folk never brought anything good, so Tora said little and started walking away.
“Wait...!”
He’d half-expected it, but Nika grabbed him urgently.
“I—I need the monster’s hair.”
She knew the tribe treated Gamal like a monster. But hearing it said to her face still sparked anger.
Tora blocked Rato, who was about to snap back, and asked,
“Why the hair?”
She didn’t seem malicious, so he was curious about her reason.
With resolve, Nika declared,
“I’m going to prove I’m as brave as Udan.”
Udan was Nika’s younger brother. A cheeky little brat who’d probably provoked his sister’s pride.
“Then shouldn’t you raid her for it?”
Rato sneered boldly. Tora realized his twin was deliberately trying to rile her up. He wasn’t usually this obnoxious.
But Nika shook her head as if it were nothing.
“I was planning to ask nicely anyway. I’m no good at fighting.”
“Ask the monster?”
Rato looked even more exasperated. Nika mumbled, as if second-guessing herself.
“But I heard she doesn’t attack first... So maybe...?”
Rato and Tora exchanged glances, getting a sense of her personality.
“That’s the monster you’re looking for.”
Tora said, pointing to Gamal sitting on the bench in front of the log cabin.
Gamal stared blankly at Nika, and Nika looked at Tora in confusion. Gamal asked, puzzled,
“Why’s Nika here?”
“You... know me?”
Nika seemed shocked. Noticing her short speech, Tora added,
“Mati’s much older than you.”
“But...”
Nika hesitated, glancing at Tora.
“She’s a monster.”
Rato added mockingly. But Nika, fixated on Gamal, didn’t catch it and asked,
“So... can she use wicked magic? Like the rumors say?”
“Nope.”
Gamal answered truthfully. Nika, flustered instead, asked,
“Then what can she do?”
Caught off guard, Gamal looked at the wooden basket she was weaving and tilted her head.
“Weave baskets?”
Nika eyed the half-finished basket and was surprised by its high quality.
“Oh, yeah. That’s well made. Better than my grandma’s, even.”
“I’ve been making them longer.”
Tora and Rato exchanged looks. This wasn’t the image they’d expected.
Nika scrutinized Gamal closely, occasionally gasping at her beauty. Then she asked,
“You’re really not human?”
Gamal nodded.
“Nope.”
“Then what are you?”
“A vampire.”
Gamal answered honestly, and Nika burst out laughing. The tribe myths had similar beings, so she knew what a vampire was.
“No such thing exists!”